Sunday, January 17, 2016

Yesterday was the first playtest of a new Alpha Blue scenario I've been working on since the book's release - Girls Gone Rogue.

I had an idea to merge the plot from two of my favorite films, Escape from New York and Blade Runner.

There were 7 players and I had everyone make new characters, even though over half of them had made characters a month back when playtesting Alpha Blue. A lot had changed and I wanted them (and the noobs) to get the full Alpha Blue experience.

This little d4 table for randomly determining a character's age and experience worked like a treat, adding even more background nuance.

I won't go into detail about the actual adventure because of spoilers; however, below will be a number of details, thoughts, and miscellaneous from the session...

It all began when a beautiful brunette woman in a translucent red dress walked into the club and ordered a drink. Her name was Serene and she was looking to party.

Here's the quote of the day, "If the testicles have tentacles attached to them, even better." That came from the mouth of +sean mcconkey. He played one of the most interesting characters - an alien spider creature templar/priestess that could change size when he got excited and was really into golden showers!

Not sure why I didn't explicitly state it, but players can create robot characters, too. Deciding to go robot would be the same as choosing to play an alien, mutant, or roll on the something special table. There's even a random table in the character creation section for what machine you were before being converted into a functional machine with artificial intelligence, sensitivity, etc.

Also not explicitly stated, but seemed obvious to me and another player, one can choose to play a combination of alien and mutant, mutant and something special, alien and robot, etc. if they opt to forgo rolling twice on the career tables. We had a couple characters go that route, including Joshua Cooper Darlington who played an alien mutant. He was a rat-sized creature composed of fire that bought a meat-shell that he could operate and walk around in. Kind of like the thing Krang used in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon from the 80's and 90's. His bite was poisonous, too!

I had been working on the "shimmering circle" for an entire week before the game. Layers of acrylic paint, glazing liquid, self leveling clear gel, sparkling latex wall paint I had left over from making my daughters' rooms extra girly, and gloss varnish. It's not too big and very slick, so rolling on the surface is difficult. Perfect for mirroring the difficulty of fighting in a zero gravity arena! The guys had a lot of fun with that. It led to a close-line decapitation with an arm - that's not something you see everyday!

+Jacob Nelson (who played a human digestive scientist... for some reason) laughed so hard and so many times during character creation and throughout the scenario, that I worried about him. He noted quite a few of the references, such as the "Blue Steel" mutation from another favorite film of mine - Zoolander.

Almost everyone roleplayed their sexual fantasy and fetish throughout the game. One might imagine that rolling for such a thing at character creation would lead to one of two possibilities, either that detail is relegated to the void, never surfacing during play, or that incorporating it into play would be a chore, feeling forced instead of natural. Well, I'm pleased to report that PC proclivities were present without getting in the way of adventuring... in fact, the erotic aspects became enmeshed with it.

+Tim Virnig (who played Sliik Khok, a human technician assassin) improved on the name for a desert-world bar I came up with. So, it looks like the Most Easy Cantina will be replaced with the Moist E-Z Cantina. I'll probably include options for using both in the PDF.

Friday, January 15, 2016

Remember this? Well, my space gauntlet was not taken up. In fact, it's still sitting there on the sky barge... chillin'... waiting for YOU!!!

I'm going to come up with the best d12 table I can for the upcoming Alpha Blue scenario Girls Gone Rogue. I want you to try and top me (just to be clear, this has nothing to do with White Star, but if you'd like to use that as inspiration, go right ahead).

The winner(s) will have his or her submitted table(s) included in Girls Gone Rogue with credit and a complimentary PDF. If you don't already have Alpha Blue, you'll get a free PDF of that, too.

I neglected to reiterate how this contest will be judged. Try to nail as many of the following categories as you can: sci-fi, vintage, humorous, awesome, useful, and sexy/sexual.

What's Girls Gone Rogue about? Well, I don't want to give too much away, but here's the elevator pitch: A sex-bot has gone berserk; she's on a killing spree. For some reason, the Federation has made her destruction Priority One. Several unlucky spacers are tricked into accepting this suicide mission.

VS

p.s. I've been keeping my red laser eye peeled for cheesy, vintage sci-fi. I just ordered the complete series of Lost in Space (watched that show religiously as a kid) and Jason of Star Command - never seen it. I'm especially excited about the latter because I've heard good things.

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

I would probably have gone to my grave without knowing that something called Star Babe existed, if I hadn't published Alpha Blue.

What is it? A super-cheap 1977 porno meant to cash in on Star Wars. I haven't seen the entire thing, but what I did watch kind of made me misty eyed. Just like The Satisfiers of Alpha Blue, I can see bits and pieces of Star Babe in Alpha Blue's genetic code.

Which goes back to the vocal minority wondering aloud, "Why would you make something like this, Venger?" Well, there's a sweet spot between vintage sci-fi and sex that leads to certain avenues of gonzo, exploitation, comedy, so-bad-it's-great awesomeness that's difficult to describe to the uninitiated.

Suffice it to say, there's just some of us who want to know what it's like to drink weird smoking liquor with a blaster at our hip, making conversation with a hooker wearing silver hot pants when a bug-eyed alien starts busting up the place.

Here is a link to the "Mos Eisley cantina" scene set to other music (that's not in the film). I could only find it on FB.

Below is the actual movie (most of it, at least) on youtube without any of the sex...

This is an excellent blog post I found, shedding a little light on what Star Babe is (or was). Damn it, now I'm hungry for bearded space-clams! Pity, it doesn't sound that awesome. However, I will watch the porn parts later this week and see for myself. You know, for research.

But let this be an educational moment. Don't let your parody of space operas and sexy star babes disappoint players. Go beyond the tawdry rip-off... into new galaxies of nostalgic sleaze!

Monday, January 11, 2016

The number 111 has always been significant to myself and my work. So, I was overjoyed to receive help, support, promotion, content, reviews, and general awesomeness from so many of my friends and colleagues on January 11th.

+David Guyll provided the artwork for this post. His blog is here. Thanks, hoss!

Check out +Kiel Chenier's blog here for his upcoming Alpha Blue review (with custom illustrations!). I'm sure it'll be just as polarizing as his analysis of The Islands of Purple-Haunted Putrescence.

And speaking of those purple islands, Endzeitgeist reviewed it today here.

+Eric Fabiaschi has just been crushing it in the blog post and random table categories for weeks. Check out a variety of his Alpha Blue and Crimson Dragon Slayer posts here.

Best of all, Alpha Blue is on sale at both DTRPG here (or click on the picture on the right side of the blog) and CreateSpace here. Also, Amazon... but remember that if you purchase it from CreateSpace, you're entitled to a FREE PDF, just email me your receipt/confirmation.

Plus, don't forget about the complimentary space station and starship maps located here. You can see a preview over at OSRtoday here. Thanks, +Jason Paul McCartan!

Am I forgetting anything? Probably. If something new happens, I'll update this post ASAP. Thanks for your continued support and I hope you enjoy the stuff I wrote. ;)

Sunday, January 10, 2016

[This challenge is off the table; however, this one is just getting started.]

Geek drama. It happens. Recently, I said some stuff and Erik from Tenkar's Tavern said some other stuff. Apparently, both sides want to keep fighting...

However, I say we settle this like gamers. +Erik Tenkar, I'm officially throwing down the space gauntlet in the form of a home-brew random table challenge!

The Rules

Each of us will create a new d12 table within one week - Sunday, January 17th at noon (central standard time). Erik's random table will be suitable for White Star while mine (Venger's) will be for Alpha Blue. Both suitable for old school, sci-fi, space opera adventuring!

The tables will be posted on my blog Sunday night and may also be posted at Tenkar's Tavern, if Erik wishes.

Winners and losers will be decided in the hearts and minds of all those who gaze upon our tables. There's no prize or humiliating task to perform. This is for personal honor and to, hopefully, bury the star axe before things escalate any further.

The tables will be judged on the following three merits:

Science fiction simulation/emulation

Awesomeness

Usability

If Erik refuses my challenge (which is a distinct possibility), someone else can take up his laser sword, fighting for Tenkar's Tavern via the White Star RPG. To decide who may take his place, assuming Erik declines, I'll roll a d6 for the first six people to ask for the privilege in a comment below.

Erik, you have until midnight tomorrow - Monday, January 11th to accept my challenge or forfeit your chance to compete against me via the Alpha Blue RPG. I'm sure you will be a worthy adversary.

Venger As'Nas SatanisKort'thalis Publishing High Priest

p.s. Erik said this on his blog (as a reply to my comment)... This is getting damn petty now, and I no intention of getting in a penis-measuring contest where you're setting the rules. If you want to do that, let's compare blog view counts or Alexa ranking. Or if you really want to compare White Star versus Alpha Blue, just compare sales numbers. Which one of them is a Gold seller again?

Tuesday, January 5, 2016

I want to thank Fantastic Dimensions for running a session of Alpha Blue and posting it to youtube.

Obviously, playing an RPG is preferable to watching other people play, but this video will give blue-curious gamers a better idea of what it's like to inhabit this starry, hooker-filled galaxy - from character creation to "dark and unexpected places"...

There's some great reviews up on the DTRPG page, so check those out if you're still on the fence.

If you didn't know or forgot, there are some awesome complimentary files: maps and character sheets.

VS

p.s. The softcover files have been accepted, approved, and the whole 9 yards. Just waiting on my DTRPG contact to activate the print option (hopefully by tomorrow morning. However, CreateSpace (including a free PDF - just email me your receipt) and Amazon already have Alpha Blue softcovers available for purchase